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Saturday, November 26, 2016

Geert Wilders: Free Speech & Western Civ. Champion

Edited by John R. Houk

Posted November 26, 2016

Illegal immigration and the acceptance of unvetted political
refugees practicing an intolerant Islam that hates everything about American
Liberty the U.S. Constitution makes the rule of law, is one of the factors
Donald Trump was elected President of the United States.

Much of Trump’s campaigning was condemned by the American
Left as bigoted racism. Fortunately, American voters by a majority of States (Thank
God for the Electoral College giving parity to less populated States)
saw through the un-American propaganda of the Left. Geert Wilders of the
Netherlands has professed much of what Donald Trump campaigned for long before
Trump and is getting prosecuted for hate speech.

Below are two Gatestone
Institute articles about this unjust hate speech prosecution persecution of Geert Wilders. The
first dated November 17 is by Mr. Wilders and the second is more about the
Dutch prosecution by Robbie Travers dated November 24.

I just heard the penal
sentence demanded by the Public Prosecutor: a penalty of 5,000 euros.

Speaking about one of the
biggest problems of our country – the problem with Moroccans – is now
punishable, according to the elite. And, hence, we are slowly but surely losing
our freedom of speech. Even asking a question is no longer allowed. Even though
millions of people agree. And Moroccans have suddenly become a race. So if you
say something about Moroccans, you are now a racist. Nobody understands that.
It is utter madness. Only meant to shut you and me up.

While in other countries the
people send the elite home, here they want to silence an opposition leader. The
Netherlands is running the risk of becoming a dictatorship. It looks like
Turkey. The differences between the Netherlands and Turkey are getting smaller.
The opposition is silenced.

I was elected by nearly a
million people. That number will be even higher on March 15th next year. And it
is my duty to talk about the problems, even when the politically-correct elite
led by Prime Minister Rutte prefers not to mention them. Because looking away
and remaining silent is not an option.

I have to say it like it is.

What is the use of political
cowards who no longer dare to speak the truth? Who are silent about the
problems in our country? Who pander to the government? Who cowardly look the
other way?

Nothing at all! Putting one's head in the sand is cowardliness.

And if you must keep quiet
about problems, because simply asking a question has become punishable, the
problems will only grow bigger. Then, the Netherlands will become a
dictatorship of fearful and cowardly politicians.

I will never accept that. I
will continue to fight for a free and safe Netherlands. That is why Islamic
terrorists have been trying to kill me for 12 years. Today, these terrorists
rejoice. Wilders is going to be punished. The Public Prosecutor has made
himself their ally today.

But I will not allow anyone
to shut me up!

No terrorist will be able to silence me!

No prosecutor in a black gown or cowardly prime minister will get me on my
knees!

I shall therefore not care about their penal demand at all. They can do
whatever they want. It will only make me stronger. I will only get more
motivated.

And you can support me with
this. By continuing to fight with me for the preservation of freedom of
expression. For the maintenance of a safe and free Netherlands. Our country.

Geert
Wilders is a member of the Dutch Parliament and leader of the Party for Freedom
(PVV).

§Geert Wilders is now on
trial for having national security views that the prosecution have deemed
unacceptable to air in public.

§To suggest that Dutch
citizens, whose safety Wilders was elected to protect -- it is his job; it
is why he was elected -- should not publicly given his best
advice, would to countermanding his official duty.

§Is it racist to note these
problems? Statistical data are usually not racist; they simply express the
factual reality of a situation.

§The freedom to speak and to
question without fear of retribution is fundamentally what separates democratic
governments from totalitarian ones. Sunshiny, politically correct views do not
need protecting. The reason for free speech is to protect the
less-than-enchanting views.

§It is fundamental for the
health of our society that Wilders and others be able to speak and be heard
freely. To protect us and to protect the humanist values of freedom brought to
us by Erasmus and the Enlightenment, it is crucial that the Dutch court grant
Wilders a full acquittal.

The prosecution alleges that his comments unfairly
"targeted a specific race, which is considered a crime."

Never mind that Moroccans are not a race or even a religion;
they are citizens of a country -- apparently, making comments on trends that
are prominent within minorities, or advice on how to keep a country secure, is
now criminal. Statements might sometimes be unpleasant to hear, but
to express these views should not be "criminal."

Look at the comments of
the lead prosecutor, Wouter Bos, who said, "Freedom of expression is not
absolute, it is paired with obligations and responsibilities." This is
worrying. To suggest that an individual should have the obligation not to
"uncessarily [sic] offend,"
is to make every individual responsible for the thoughts of every other, theoretical individual
who might be offended by one's words -- or even, as we see now
all too often, just claim to be offended for malicious
purposes.

Bos added that
Wilders has "the responsibility not to set groups of people against each
other." Is this really what Wilders was trying to do? The opposite would
seem to be true: Wilders was not calling for racial tension; in his view, he is
seeking to alleviate it, his solution being less immigration from Morocco. So
far, objectively, immigrants from Morocco seem to have had a significant effect on
the increase in crime syndicates, drugs- and human-trafficking, and a notably
lopsided change in the composition of the prison population in the Netherlands.

Is it racist to note these problems? Statistical data are
usually not racist; they simply express the factual reality of a situation.

With this in mind, perhaps then the struggle Wilders faces
could be better described as: Geert Wilders is now on trial for having national
security views that the prosecution have deemed unacceptable to air in public.

The latest development in this process is that the
prosecution have demanded that
Wilders be punished with a €5,000
fine, in order for him to atone for his alleged transgression against
Moroccans.

To suggest that Dutch citizens, whose safety Wilders was
elected to protect -- it is his job; it is why he
was elected -- should not publicly be given his best advice,
would to countermand his official duty. If, heaven forbid, there were to be
adverse circumstances in the Netherlands, as seen all too often in France,
Denmark, Germany and Belgium, and Wilders had failed to warn
his countrymen, why could he not, conversely, risk being charged with reckless
endangerment?

Perhaps the problem for the long-term survival of Europe is
that in modern politics, too many individuals are seeking to base legislation
on protecting people from being offended, instead of basing legislation on what
is best for the national and cultural security of a country. While no-one might
wish others to be offended, sometimes offending others is necessary, even a
duty.

When Wilders criticises Islam and its associated practices
and legal codes, no doubt he offends many conservative Muslims. Does this mean
his criticism should not have been expressed? (No.)

When Wilders criticises the European Union, he no doubt
offends Eurocrats in Brussels. Does this mean his criticism should not have
been expressed? (No.)

So when Wilders criticises immigration from Moroccan and
suggests there should be less of it, he may well have offended Moroccans. Does
this mean his criticism shouldn't have been expressed? (No.)

Sometimes, causing offence and allowing individuals
critically to engage with a viewpoint with which they disagree is a crucial
part of our dialogue as a society. Individuals sometimes need to be presented
with uncomfortable truths.

Whether one agrees with Wilders's view or not, it should be
comforting that an individual is allowed to question fundamental building
blocks for the future health of our Western values and communal well-being.

The freedom to speak and to question without fear of
retribution is, in fact, fundamentally what separates democratic governments
from totalitarian ones.

If one wants individuals to be able to counter views they
perceive to be "racist" or in some other way prejudiced, they first
need to be able to hear them to counter them.

In condemning Wilders, we are not only robbing Wilders of
his right to free expression, we are also robbing individuals of a right to listen
to him.

In a democratic society, individuals should have the right to
hear Wilders, and then, based on his arguments, to draw their own conclusions.
Too many countries, based on originally well-intended laws that repress free
speech, have already fallen into the trap of "the truth is no defense."

Is the implication, then, that half-truths, distortions and
lies are an acceptable defense? In closing the door to "truth" in
Europe and Canada, our
fragile Western democracies are opening the door to authoritarian governance.
Farewell, democracy.

There are other reasons why all Dutch citizens or other
individuals should be terrified of this.

For Wilders, as a Member of Parliament, the demand of the
prosecutors in this case for a fine of €5,000
may not -- on the surface -- destroy his life. But this fine would not include
the crushing court costs Wilders has had to incur, even if he is acquitted.
What happens when ordinary members of the Dutch public are summoned before a
court -- possibly for even greater penalties and with greater court costs --
for expressing views that prosecutors claim are "unnecessarily
offensive"?

Wilders, as a private citizen with possibly a moderate
income, has had to go up against the virtually unlimited exchequer of the
entire Dutch government. People's resources are not inexhaustible. This is the
nightmare that great protectors of freedom such as Franz Kafka or George Orwell
have written about.

What happens if Geert Wilders, who is a politician, is only
among the first of those who might be prosecuted for speaking out? Other
individuals who might also want "fewer Moroccans" may not be able to
afford endless court costs and a fine of €5,000
-- or whatever the judgement might be on December 9. Are we really asking the citizens
of the Netherlands, and much the free world, as we have already seen too often
-- to go through life weighing whether expressing a view will come with a
crippling economic cost?

Surely if there is a conviction this will be only the
beginning. Will anyone ever feel free again to express opinions that might be
found -- by someone, anyone, who knows -- "unnecessarily offensive"?
Probably not.

What, by the way, does "necessarily offensive"
consist of? Will lawyers become rich as person after person is hauled into
court to decide, case by case, how necessary is
"necessary"?

Is this really what the free world wants: societies that
claim to protect the rights of the individual but then instead prosecute them?
Sunshiny, politically correct views do not need protecting. The reason for freedom
of speech is to protect the less-than-enchanting views. Without any
contrarians, how would society have developed?

If this court rules against Wilders, will every politician
thereafter who makes a statement that someone deems "unnecessarily
offensive" be summoned before a court? At the other end of the political
spectrum, three Dutch Labour Party politicians were noted to
have insulted Moroccans far more corrosively than Wilders ever did -- even
likening them to dirt and excrement. Those Labour politicians were never
prosecuted. Gee, could this be a double standard we are seeing? Wilders's
judges refused to dismiss his trial on the grounds that it was, as Wilders maintained, politically
motivated; but what looks suspiciously like a selective prosecution seems to
bear him out. Will the Dutch prosecutors, in fairness, proceed to try these
even-more-insulting politicians from the political left?

Repeated trials and appeals only lead, as in a totalitarian
government, to no-one being able to afford maintaining his freedom by due
process.

That thought leads to the major politically incorrect
elephant in this room:

Is it possible that there are people who are exploiting the
West's open but expensive legal process precisely to shut down freedom of
speech and political views they find inconvenient for themselves? Is that the
whole secret point behind the prosecution: to smother speech and smother
thought?

European nations seem to be rapidly approaching a path of
political censorship, to prevent views being expressed that their leaders deem
unacceptable. The result? These views only grow in prominence. Across Europe,
as Brexit, Wilders, Le Pen, and other "politically incorrect"
tributaries that leaders are trying to restrict, are surging in popularity.

Ideas cannot be killed by stopping individuals from hearing
them; people only seem to want to hear more about what they sense is being
hidden from them.

You do not have to like Geert Wilders or even agree with
him; it is, however, fundamental for the health of our civilization that he and
others be able to speak and be heard freely.

To protect us and to protect the humanist values of freedom
brought to us by Erasmus and the Enlightenment, it is crucial that the Dutch
court grant Wilders a full acquittal.

Robbie Travers, a political
commentator and consultant, is Executive Director of Agora, former media
manager at the Human Security Centre, and a law student at the University of
Edinburgh.

"Let us tenderly and
kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think,
speak, and write."
— John Adams

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